For anyone looking for a perfect mountain
bike tour in the Comox Valley you couldn’t do much better than the loop around
the Puntledge River, just west of Courtenay. It is suited to a wide range
of riders from kids to seniors and involves trails that are generally smooth
with few hills or tricky descents. You could do this loop from a variety of
starting points and in the past we have ridden this loop right from Courtenay
but in this case we started from the Duncan Bay Main road near Stoten Falls.
Fellow biker Norm Reynolds initially showed me this trail but on this day our
son Michael who was visiting from Vancouver was keen to see it so he
accompanied me. We parked 49 40.842 N 125 03.342 W and we followed the gravel
road next to the pipeline.
Michael along the first part of the trail |
You
need to duck your bike past some gates in a couple of places but otherwise you
can stay on your bike for just about the entire ride. Part way along the route
jogs to the left off the gravel road and the trail from here follows the river
and becomes more interesting as it winds around through the tall trees. There
are short bridges across small streams and then it arrives at the bridge which
crosses the Puntledge River at Comox Lake.
The trail is well maintained with bridges and boardwalk in places |
Just after the bridge look for a small trail
which cuts right off the gravel road and this leads to a nice park with picnic
tables. Again follow the trail next to the river and you are in for a nice
winding flowing trail all the way to Nymph Falls Park. Once at the park we
headed to the Forbidden Plateau paved road and followed it back to Duncan Bay
Main road where our car was parked. Over all the distance according to our GPS
was about 18 km and it took us about 90 minutes with a few stops for pictures.
This makes this scenic loop an ideal morning or afternoon bike trip. The trail
does have a few choices but if take the trail along the river you should be
fine.
Michael takes a picture at Barbours Hole on the Puntledge River |
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